But as I stood there wondering why in the world anyone would leave behind such important parts of a wardrobe,

I realized something.

I can’t understand the actions of someone I do not know.

and I can’t walk a mile in their shoes either.

As hard as I might try,

I can’t appreciate the wear and tear of a sole

without knowing the journey of that soul.

So I took this picture to remind myself.

Get to know the owner of the shoes.

Every color.

Every style.

Talk to them.

Walk with them.

Have coffee with them

Share life with them.

Cry with them.

Laugh with them.

Pray for them…..

and pray with them.

And when they take off their shoes because they’ve had enough,

I won’t have to walk a mile in them,

because I’ll quickly realize I already have.

____________________________________________

After we adopted our daughter from India,

she would sometimes pinch the skin on my hand and say,

“I want this,”

or cuddle next to me in bed and say,

“I’m sorry, Mommy, we don’t match.”

I can remember a few other defining moments in her growing up years in a primarily-white part of the country,

but I’ll never forget those emotional nights alone with a child wrestling with the differences between us.

I will never claim to know how it feels to be the subject of racial discrimination.

But that season in my life was enough to know,

it’s real,

it hurts,

and

it’s never okay.

God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.

And I think tonight we’re all close.

It doesn’t feel like it, I know.

The sharp rocks hurt

and

the broken glass cuts.

But the exposing of our soles may be the very exposure our souls need.

To feel the pain.

To know the anguish.

To slip out of our arch-supported footwear and ache with every step.

So take a deep breath

and step back before shouting,

because there’s a lotof shoes to walk in these days.

And it’s going to take a brave country to choose to walk in all of them.

Whether we’re talking about skin color or figures in authority,

we have to play fair.

Hurling words and accusations won’t heal our land.

But turning our head won’t either.

I’ve been quiet because I haven’t known exactly what to say.

And if I’m really honest, I still don’t.

But I do know the One who spoke this world into existence,

and when He did, Scripture says,

“He created us ALL in His image,”

and then said,

“It is good.”

And I know He sent His Son to walk where we walk,

so He’d know our journey firsthand.

Every struggle.

Every temptation.

Every fear.

He walked a mile in our shoes to show us how to walk a mile in each other’s.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

John 13:34

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Matt. 25:40

And when a crowd brought someone to Him demanding justice,

John 8:7 says,

“He straightened up and said to them,

any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”

So tonight I’m sad for our nation,

because hatred is winning where love already conquered all.

And I don’t think things are going to change until every single one of us is willing to take off our own shoes,

get uncomfortable,

and honestly do what it takes to understand each other.

Because I can’t walk a mile in the shoes of anyone I do not know…………….

and love.

And isn’t that the greatest commandment?

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28-31

One day this world will end.

All the fighting will cease.

And together we will praise the One who saved us from ourselves.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,

from every nation,

tribe,

people

and language,

standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9-10

What would it take for us to quit waving fists and start waving palm branches today?

(The music on my blog isn’t working right now, but I never write without David Nevue’s music playing in the background. This post was written while listening to his song, “Broken,” over and over again. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xAFsgqP4Rg )

so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

II. Cor. 1:3-4

Life is hard.

But God is good.

And someone needs to hear that today.

From you.

<3

]]>Why I Know, More Than Ever, I Need A Way Makerhttps://www.tammynischan.com/why-i-know-more-than-ever-i-need-a-way-maker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-i-know-more-than-ever-i-need-a-way-maker
Sat, 02 May 2020 07:07:01 +0000https://www.tammynischan.com/?p=6841

I remember the day I bought my 2020 planner.

I wanted one small enough to fit in my purse….

But big enough for detailed daily planning.

I thought I had so much to do.

If that wasn’t enough,

I wanted one that was cute.

Teal preferably.

Maybe with stickers.

I knew what I wanted.

But not what I needed.

I also remember the day I ordered my first-ever wall calendar,

displaying the whole year at once.

If I ever needed one like this,

2020 looked to be the year.

Not just to keep track of my own life but to keep track of Tim’s as well.

A new chapter.

A new church.

A new town.

I didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle.

Or lose Tim along the way.

I didn’t want to miss a Bible study.

Or forget a meeting.

Worse yet, I didn’t want to look like I couldn’t hold it all together.

How proud can a person be?

____________________

It’s now the first week of May.

My planner still sits on my desk.

Unopened.

Unused.

My wall calendar hangs silently behind my writing room door.

Everything on it cancelled or postponed.

In so many ways,

time has stopped.

But in so many other ways,

it has boldly marched on.

I wonder if Elijah ever felt this way sitting by the brook.

God had sent him to this very place

just after asking him to prophecy a drought.

“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.

You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

I Kings 17:3-4

Did those words ever haunt Elijah after the rain stopped falling?

“You will drink from the brook.”

It’s hard to drink from a dry river bed.

And Elijah knew the whole kingdom would dry up soon.

God had told Elijah to do a lot of things,

But one thing God had not said yet was, “Move,”

so Elijah stayed put.

And it wasn’t until after the brook was completely dry that God spoke again.

“Go at once,” He finally said.

Not to a feast or even a well.

But to a widow.

A widow who Elijah found picking up sticks to prepare the last meal for her and her starving son.

If this were a scene in a movie,

I’m not sure if the characters would laugh or cry as they listened to each other’s stories.

I’m not sure if they would look up and question the One who had brought them together

or fall into each other’s arms,

confident the One who loved them both had made a way for them to meet and help each other survive.

But I am sure of this.

Their desperation bonded them quickly.

Elijah learned a lot while sitting by the brook.

He learned even more while staying with this woman and her son.

All along the way, it was very clear:

God was making a way.

And Elijah would soon become an unstoppable force,

able to stand up confidently to hundreds of prophets of Baal and display God’s power in front of them all.

Elijah learned about trust, patience, hope, and faith as he sat on the rocky bank of the quickly-drying brook.

And he learned about humility, compassion, and selflessness as he faced a woman in even more dire straits than he.

Maybe that’s what 2020 is all about.

Maybe it’s about throwing away planners and taking down calendars and surrendering our days to the One who made them all in the first place.

Maybe it’s about looking past our own needs to the needs of those around us

and then figuring out how we can help their jugs of oil and jars of flour last a little longer.

___________________________________

Two days ago, an Amish family from a town not far from here

lost five children

when their buggy was swept away in a fast-moving creek

that had overtaken the road they were crossing.

Five children.

Five times the grief I faced when we lost our daughter.

Five times the grief I faced when we lost our son.

My heart has been completely wrecked by this news.

No matter what I’m doing,

this family weighs heavily on my heart.

I’ve relived my own pain over and over again,

as if I’m trying to remind myself they will make it.

I’ve prayed for angels to surround them day and night and protect their hearts and minds from doubting the One who loves them most of all.

I don’t know what else to do.

But I want to do more.

I want to hold this mom in my arms.

I want to tell her she is so loved.

I want to tell her she is not alone.

And most of all,

I want to tell her God is right there with her.

Maybe closer than He’s ever been to anyone since Job.

And He’s somehow making a way

where there seems to be no way.

Scripture promises in Psalm 34:18,

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.”

So I know He’s there.

And He’ll never leave.

Because I know her heart is broken.

And always will be.

If you feel like you’re sitting by a dried up brook these days –

wondering where God is –

maybe He’s sitting with an Amish family who needs every single ounce of Him.

And maybe, just maybe,

He’s preparing you to help someone tomorrow who’s picking up sticks in their own life today.

I love the lyrics of the popular worship song, “Way Maker,”

Even when I don’t see it, You’re workingEven when I don’t feel it, You’re working

I believe in this time of uncertainty worldwide,

He who has no need for a planner or wall calendar is making a way for you.

And for me.

And deep in my heart,

I have to believe He’s making a way for the Hochstetler family in Bath County, Kentucky.

I remember walking to my own calendar the day after our daughter died.

All the things I thought we would do suddenly erased.

Proverbs 19:21 tried to warn me.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart,

but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Not that He chooses these tragic times in our lives

or

these horrific times in history,

but I have to believe He’s not caught by surprise.

He knew our calendars would become meaningless in time.

And somehow I just know He’s working in the midst of all of this.

Bringing good from bad.

Working already to restore what’s being lost.

________________________

It faith truly is the evidence of things not seen,

this season is requiring an extra dose of it.

Because 2020 seems anything but clear.

And maybe, just maybe, there’s significance in the fact that THIS YEAR

is

20-20

yet so many of us have lost the ability to see much further than our own front door.

Maybe God is using this time in history to help improve our eyesight.

So we can finally SEE Him for all He is.

Creator.

Sustainer.

Provider.

Comforter.

Father.

The Alpha and Omega.

The Beginning and the End.

The list goes on and on

I wrote once about Joseph facing his brothers after years of separation.

In that writing, I wondered if Joseph had had faith all through those years.

Did he remember his dream as he was sitting in prison

and did he believe that one day it would come true?

Faith hadn’t been mentioned in the pages of the Bible yet,

but Hebrews 11 says Joseph walked by it.

I have to believe he spent many nights praying for the chance to embrace his family again.

And believed it would happen.

When he finally got the chance,

he sat them all down.

Not randomly.

But in order of their age.

They had to know something was up,

because they didn’t realize they were in the presence of the very one they had once hated and sold into slavery.

I’m not sure why Joseph drags out the revelation of who he is.

Does he need time to process his emotions?

To be sure of their changed hearts?

It’s one thing to love people.

It’s a whole other thing to believe they love you too.

So the pause button is pushed as Joseph washes away his tears in a private room.

And his brothers wait.

Not knowing what their future holds.

The table was finally set for all things to be made right.

______________________

Maybe that’s where we’re at today.

The table has been set.

And we just haven’t realized it yet.

That’s where faith comes in.

And changes everything about this moment

“With faith all things are possible.”

This was true for Joseph before he’d even heard the word.

And it’s true for us today.

Even in our deepest moments of fear and questioning and grief and doubt,

FAITH makes a way for us to live with overflowing hope and joy and peace.

We just have to remember.

Even though our calendars in so many ways have been erased,

faith has set the table.

And we’re all seated here.

Together.

And my prayer for each of you today is the same as Paul’s for the church in Ephesus,

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strengthhe exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.And God placed all things under his feet (even COVID – 19) and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”